Establishing Home: Creating Space for a Beautiful Life with Family, Faith, and Friends

Google “Jean Stoffer Designs” and discover interiors done with impeccable taste and simplicity, the signature example being “The Madison,” a wholesale renovation and redesign of a 10,000-square-foot historical mansion in Grand Rapids, MI. Known for her kitchen inset cabinetry, Stoffer recounts her rise from part-time design firm receptionist to national recognition via her TV program on the Magnolia Network, The Established Home. Stoffer’s writing is light and breezy, moving from one design success to the next. She shares information about her husband and four children and they, one by one, begin to join her in what has become the family business. For DIYers, she includes a wealth of helpful tips on remodeling, identifying homes with so-called “good bones,” and such specific insights as tuck pointing and negotiating historic preservation commissions. She is less helpful with actual costs; in truth, most of her efforts seem beyond those on shoestring budgets. Additionally, this reads like a mostly conflict-free life, with the faith part of the subtitle taking a distant third behind family and friends.